Automobile parts, bicycles, toys, appliances and other industrial and consumer articles are conventionally spray painted in areas called spray booths wherein water curtains are employed to wash the air and to remove over-sprayed paint, lacquer or enamel solids. The wash water is then treated to remove paint solids, and the treated water is recirculated.
A water curtain is typically created by pumping water into a trough above the overspray area. The overflow from the trough is then controlled so that a uniform sheet of water falls along the length of the trough and down the booth's wall. Spray nozzles are also commonly used. Droplets of oversprayed paint, emitted by a spray gun, contact and are captured by the water curtain.
A major problem associated with spraying operations concerns the tacky or adhesive nature of the over-sprayed coating materials. Solids tend to agglomerate and accumulate on the walls, ceiling and floor of spray areas and to clog water spray equipment, recirculating pumps and the like. Thus, the overspray, or paint mist, captured in the water system of a spray booth must be detackified, or "killed", before it adheres to the walls, piping, etc. of the spray booth. Paint that sticks to spray booth surfaces usually cannot be easily removed from the equipment and tends to build up overtime, which hampers spray booth efficacy.
One solution, which has been found to have practical application to the overspray problem, involves the use of chemicals which, when added to spray booth water, detackify paint solids. A wide variety of chemical formulations have been proposed for this purpose, and have been described in coassigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 185,720 dated Apr. 25, 1988 of Faust et al, the pertinent portions of which are incorporated by reference. The above enumerated Faust et al application relates to the use of melamine-aldehyde-type polymers, more specifically melamine-formaldehyde polymers, to kill over-sprayed paint. The polymer is used preferably in combination with at least one polymeric coagulant.